Prime ministers' descendants descend on Canberra

While thousands of people make the journey to Australia's former parliament each year, for married couple Jim and Wendy Starkey, there's a close connection with the historic building: both are descendants of former prime ministers.

Jim and Wendy Starkey are the descendants of two former Prime Ministers Joseph Lyons and Billy Hughes. The couple were visiting Canberra this week.Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Wendy is the great-granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Billy Hughes and Jim the great-grandson of Joseph Lyons.

The couple live in the Illawarra in NSW but made a rare trip to Canberra this week to see some of the many locations their ancestors once stood.

"We are just happened to be related to part of all of this, and it makes you feel proud that our forefathers changed the way Australia was shaped," Mr Starkey said.

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Growing up, Mrs Starkey said she was always reminded of her family connection to the prime minister, but never imagined her future husband would have a similar link.

"I wouldn't even hazard a guess at the odds, to be perfectly honest," she said.

"We were told by family that [Hughes] was a rogue and that before he was a prime minister he was a safecracker and locksmith. If there was something going on he was going to be a part of it."

Former Prime Minister Billy Hughes, pictured in 1919 following his return from the Paris Peace Conference.Credit:Staff

Hughes was prime minister between 1915 and 1923, leading Australia through World War I.

While he supported the idea of national conscription, it was defeated in a national plebiscite, and also caused him to split from the Labor Party and join the Nationalist Party.

While the fact Mrs Starkey was descended from a former-Prime Minister was widely publicised, it was a different situation with her husband.

"With us it wasn't really broadcast that we were descendants of Joseph Lyons, there was a lot of secrecy surrounding that fact," Mr Starkey said.

Former Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.Credit:Staff

Lyons held Parliament's top job from 1932 to 1939 when he died in office from a heart attack.

As well as being a former premier of Tasmania, Lyons was the first prime minister from the United Australia Party, which would be the predecessor of the Liberal Party, which Hughes also became a member of later during his parliamentary career.

Mr Starkey is also the great-grandson of Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives.

Mr and Mrs Starkey met at the Western Suburbs Leagues Club and have been married for 36 years.

While the couple's political views happen to fall on different sides of the political spectrum - and also the same side as their prime ministerial family members - they said the differences haven't affected the relationship.

"When we first got married, Jim was more a Liberal voter and I was a Labor voter. We've had different political views from the get-go," Mrs Starkey said.

Politics also runs in the blood of the next generation of the family, with the couple's daughter Lyndal running as a candidate for the Palmer United Party in the marginal seat of Gilmore, NSW, at the 2013 election.

As part of the Starkeys' visit to Canberra, the pair also travelled to the suburbs named after their famous great-grandparents.

"It just fills you with pride, to think that we're connected to them," Mrs Starkey said.